HBR Case Study
BY GERALD ZALTMAN AND
LINDSAY ZALTMAN
COMMENTARY BY
DONNA J. STURGESS,
ALEX LEE,
YOSHINORI FUJIKAWA, AND
LEWIS CARBONE
The Sure Thing
That Flopped
All the market research said that TF’s NextStage stores couldn’t miss.
What went wrong?
Suddenly a shiny black Lincoln
pulled up to the curb where Drew
stood. A smiling Tibal opened the back door, sharing the tail
end of some joke with the driver, whose shoulder he patted
before grabbing his laptop case. As Tibal shut the door, Drew
noticed that the tall, tanned 62-year-old was carrying his tie in
the other hand. He was struck by how nonchalant and friendly
his boss looked, though Tibal was facing the real possibility
of a $40 million fiasco. “Classic happy warrior,” Drew thought.
“Craves contact. Born for retail, even if it fails.”
TWENTY-NINE-YEAR-OLD Drew Mo-bley, sweating under his summer suit,
checked his watch. It was 3: 45 on a
hot afternoon, and his CEO, Tibal
Fisher, was running very late. Drew
had been waiting outside the entrance to the mall for more than half
an hour, his stomach sinking every
time a black Town Car passed. The
Wall Street Journal reporter was already upstairs in the store, probably
resenting the wait. Drew could feel
his heart thumping like the jackhammer down the street.
Daniel Vasconcellos
“Hey, Drew,” Tibal said.
“Any word yet?” Drew asked.
Tibal reached into his pocket, pulled out his Treo, and held
the device at arm’s length. He laughed. “I can’t see without my
glasses.” He showed Drew the screen. Drew told Tibal there
appeared to be no call or message yet
from the CFO, who was due to phone
any minute with the first hard data
on how sales had been at the two
dozen TF’s NextStage stores since
their reopening a month ago. The
stores had recently been overhauled
after two years of anemic results.
“I’ve been talking to some mobile
companies about making a line of
handsets for our stores,” said Tibal,
“with screens you can actually read.”
He corrected himself: “That I can actually read. That our customers can
actually read.”
“Tibal, sorry to rush you,” urged
Drew, “but we’re late. The reporter’s waiting.”
Tibal took Drew by the elbow, a gesture he never minded.
His boss did it to everyone, man or woman, old or – like
Drew – less than half his age. Drew opened the door, and cool
air greeted them as they entered the mall. A flock of chattering teenage girls floated by on their way to the makeup store;
Christina Aguilera’s voice wafted through the loudspeakers.
Upstairs, the TF’s NextStage store was practically empty.
The store manager, a 30-something fellow with thick-framed
designer glasses, welcomed them cheerily.
HBR’s cases, which are fictional, present common managerial
dilemmas and offer concrete solutions from experts.
